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FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — The Village of Hope graduated its first class of students May 8 in a ceremony held at Patrol Base Stone in Hawr Rajab, south of Baghdad. The 42 graduating students spent the past three months learning plumbing, electrical and construction skills at the Village of Hope training facility. The program is aimed at teaching local citizens valuable career skills, with the added benefit of rebuilding their community. The students, many of them former Sons of Iraq, will continue their training outside the classroom by renovating structures in the area. Hawr Rajab was devastated last year...

Local leaders cut the ribbon signifying the opening of the Salman Pak Girls Secondary School, April 24, in Salman Pak, Iraq. DoD photo. FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — The only secondary school for girls in the Salman Pak area opened its doors with a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 24.Leaders of the Salman Pak Council, the Iraqi Army, the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, gathered in Salman Pak for the ceremony, which marked the completion of a $200,000 project initiated Feb. 28.Members of the Salman Pak Council brought the decrepit school to the attention of 1-15th...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq, April 28, 2008 – U.S. civil affairs soldiers assessed fish farms in the Lutifiyah, Iraq, area April 23 to gauge their progress. Army Capt. Mike Fisher, commander of Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, and Army Pfc. Timothy Perkins, communications specialist with Company B, 411th Civil Affairs Battalion, speak with a fish farmer in the Lutifiyah, Iraq, area April 23, 2008, about the progress of his ponds. Photo by Army Pvt. Christopher McKenna, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “What we are trying to do is...

Families stroll the park's sidewalks and picnic in the shade as laughing children clamor to see the main attraction - lions once owned by Saddam Hussein's son, Odai. Damaged after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the Baghdad Zoo has made a startling comeback, and thousands of Iraqis are flocking here to escape the city's grungy streets. The zoo, located in the sprawling Zawra Park in the heart of Baghdad just outside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, has been held up as an example of American reconstruction efforts. The military brought in new animals, rebuilt damaged exhibits and worked with international zoos and...

U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Declared Ready, With Nudge by RocketsBy Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 18, 2008; Page A19 The troubled effort to build the giant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad seemed to be months away from completion when a team of top State Department officials flew to Iraq on March 20 to meet with senior staff from the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting. But as insurgent rockets began to rain down on the flimsy trailers housing diplomats inside the Green Zone, the two sides suddenly found ways to settle many of the major issues...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, April 7, 2008 – When an Air Force engineer first stepped foot in Hawr Rajab, it was an al-Qaida in Iraq safe haven. The thought that came to mind was a scene from an old western movie. Airmen from the 557th Expeditionary Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers, or RED HORSE, Squadron teach masonry to Village of Hope students at Patrol Base Stone in Hawr Rajab, Iraq, April 2, 2008. Two hundred Hawr Rajab men, in four classes of 50, are scheduled to graduate from the vocational school. Courtesy photo   (Click photo...

The Baghdadis caught between these extremes know that the only thing standing in the way of another sectarian conflagration is the U.S. military. This may explain why every Iraqi who offers me a view on American politics seems to be praying for a McCain victory.

An Adwaniyah middle school student receives school supplies during the school's grand opening. Some of the supplies were donated by American students to Iraqi students. The remodeled school will hold traditional and religious classes. FORWARD OPRATING BASE KALSU — Adwaniyah citizens who were once afraid to leave their homes because of al-Qaeda in Iraq, freely gathered last week to celebrate the grand opening of a middle school and health clinic. Much of the work was done using Commander’s Emergency Response Program funds. Coalition forces assisted in rebuilding the school and clinic but the Government of Iraq was key to the...

SALAH AH DIN PROVINCE — The town of Tuz, Iraq has played a significant role in Coalition operations since 2003, and today more of its 15,000 residents have reliable electricity. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in northern Iraq completed an electrical network project in February that brings electricity generated at the Bayji power plant to approximately 3,000 Iraqi homes in this village located 110 miles north of Baghdad. “We expanded the existing distribution system so that the same amount of electricity could be provided to more homes in the neighborhood,” said Oni Gomez, resident engineer in the Gulf Region...

An Iraqi worker adds a fresh coat of white paint to one of the buildings comprising the al Nassir School in al Buaytha, March 25. Coalition forces are funding repair of the school's four buildings. Before al-Qaida was driven from the area, the school was hit several times by mortars, causing structural damage. Photo by Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs. FOB KALSU — The al Nassir Elementary School is once again a kid-friendly place where area children can go to study.The school, which suffered severe damage while al-Qaida dominated the area, is now...

HABBANIYAH — One Civil Affairs Group (CAG), although only recently arriving to Iraq, is already making improvements to the quality of life of the Iraqi people. During a routine mission March 17, CAG, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, stopped by the Habbaniyah mayor’s office for a meeting. They intended to discuss the quality of the water treatment facilities in the Coolie Camp area. “Unfortunately, the mayor wasn’t available. We were supposed to pick-up some documents from him, but he was called to Ramadi by the governor,” said 2nd Lt. Matt R. Ashton, the officer in charge....

Bush: Progress in Iraq is real By JAMES HANNAH, Associated Press Writer DAYTON, Ohio - President Bush on Thursday promoted his war policies, a possible focal point in the presidential campaign as the November election approaches in politically pivotal Ohio. The troop surge in Iraq has resulted in significant security gains for the country, he said at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The number of sectarian attacks in the volatile Anbar province have plummeted since the surge, he said. "The progress in Iraq is real, it's substantive," he said. Recent news...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Chicken farming in Iraq is moving toward pre-war levels, as Coalition forces work with farmers to overcome challenges. There are about seven functioning chicken houses in the region where 3rd Battalion, 7th infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division operates, and dialogue has begun with the owners on how to increase production. One of the first areas where the unit discovered chicken houses was the community of Abu Lukah. It has four chicken houses, three of which are functioning. The first visit by the unit was at the end of January during which...

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi lawmakers overcame weeks of deadlock Wednesday to pass three key measures: a $48-billion national budget, an amnesty bill and legislation paving the way for provincial elections by Oct. 1. Approval of the bills could signal a greater willingness by Iraq's main ethnic and religious factions to overcome differences that have stymied political progress. Lawmakers said the measures would generate economic development and could speed the return of Sunni Arab ministers who walked out of the Shiite Muslim-led government. Analysts cautioned, however, that Iraqi leaders remained deeply divided on key issues, including the distribution of Iraq's massive oil...

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2008 – Iraqi judges surveyed the new government center in Salman Pak, Iraq, on March 10, during their first visit back since 2005 when they were forced to relocate by extremist groups made the area too dangerous to remain. Judge Razak, an investigative judge, second from the left, speaks with leaders of the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team about bringing rule of law back to Salman Pak, March 10. This was the first time judges had returned to Salman Pak since extremists forced them to leave three years ago. U.S. Army photo by Spc....

Politics has broken out in Baghdad. Long derided as dysfunctional, Iraq's parliament in recent weeks has passed a package of laws on the budget, elections and sectarian reconciliation that have given cautious hope to U.S. officials and private analysts that the gains from President Bush's military surge are finally being matched by a political surge as well. Daniel Serwer, a specialist on post-conflict societies, recently led a delegation from the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace to Baghdad to assess the political scene and interview the major Iraqi players inside the Green Zone. "The popular image is that things are completely...

BASRA, Iraq, Jan. 15, 2008 – Army engineers are conducting a public works upgrade here, repairing streets and completing unfinished sewer work. Iraqi workers use jackhammers to remove damaged pavement in preparation for pavement work in the Maqil neighborhood in Basra, Iraq. U.S. Army photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started work on a Basra pavement and sewer project in November, said Ferdinand Guese, project engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region South District. The new project aims to complete the paving of various streets in Maqil, a...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2008 – As U.S. forces continue to pursue al Qaeda terrorists across Iraq, American and Iraqi diplomats are preparing to negotiate future relations between the two nations, senior U.S. military and diplomatic officials said today. Flanked by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq; U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker; and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, President Bush delivers a statement Jan. 12, 2008, during a visit to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, before traveling to Bahrain. White House photo by Eric Draper   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2008 – The situation in Iraq has improved significantly over the past year, and that progress is enabling some U.S. troops to return home, President Bush today told reporters in Kuwait. President Bush reaches out to troops at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, Jan. 12, 2008. White House photo by Eric Draper   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Iraq is now a different place from one year ago. Much hard work remains, but levels of violence are significantly reduced,” Bush, who is continuing his week-long trip across the Middle East, told reporters at Camp Arifjan. The...

Those who claim that the surge strategy in Iraq has paid no dividends because it hasn't met Congressional benchmarks may wish to skip to the next post. The Iraqi National Assembly has passed one of the two most critical benchmarks that the American government had pressed for Baghdad to adopt, the de-Baathification reform that will allow Sunnis to once again enter government jobs: Iraq's parliament adopted legislation Saturday on the reinstatement of former Baath party supporters to government jobs, a benchmark sought by the United States as a key step toward national reconciliation. The voting was carried out by a...

A short musical video message from our troops to the world, and a very special thought for our Anti-Military brethren. The message is sincere and true.

It was something not seen in Baghdad since before the 2003 invasion — people publicly welcoming a new year with singing, dancing and alcohol-fueled revelry. The ballrooms of two landmark hotels — the Palestine and the Sheraton — were full of people for the first New Year's Eve celebrations after four years of violence that has bloodied Iraq. "This place is now more secure," said Zahraa, 23, adorned with heavy black eyeliner and red lipstick, sitting with colleagues at the Palestine hotel, which was the target of huge car bombs in 2005. "Yes, we are still afraid, but we need...

Baghdad Zoo is a draw again With the help of U.S. troops, a sanctuary that was damaged and depleted by the onset of the war is revived. By Ann M. Simmons Los Angeles Times Staff Writer December 30, 2007 BAGHDAD — Capt. Amy Cronin never had a pet. Before deploying to Iraq, she didn't even really know much about animals. But in 15 months, Cronin and her unit, the 15th Brigade Support Battalion, have gone from providing logistics and supplies to U.S. troops to helping refurbish an animal clinic, building horse stables and constructing new habitats for bears and porcupines...

KARGULI VILLAGE, Iraq — To build a poultry-based association, American business ideas and Iraqi cultural ways will have to merge. This is especially true in the fertile Euphrates Valley, where agriculture was a fairly profitable business just a few years ago.As part of America’s armed forces of reaching out to civilian communities in an effort to reduce the hold al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgents have on the population, small units are seeking ways to improve the lives of Iraqis in their areas of responsibility. For the Rakkasans of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 187th Infantry, 101st...

Virtually everywhere you look these days in Iraq, the signs are of a country slowly hauling its way back from the precipice of self-destruction. It is not only the successful return of Basra, the last of the four Iraqi provinces under British control, to the local authorities that gives cause for optimism, although that event could have a profound effect in helping Iraq return to something approaching normality. By far the most impressive part of the hand-over ceremony, which, fittingly, took place in the disused departure lounge of the former Saddam Hussein international airport, was the appeal made by the...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 7, 2007 – Troops from Battery A, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, and a civil affairs team from 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion handed out $10,000 in micro-grant funds to an Iraqi small business and a home for mentally handicapped children. A baker whisks hot bread out of an oven while troops from the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, get ready to hand $5,000 to the bakery's owner as part of a micro-grant program in Baghdad’s Qadisiyah neighborhood, Dec. 1, 2007. Photo by Spc. Alexis Harrison, USA  (Click photo for...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 4, 2007 – Since the relationship between Zawra Park officials and soldiers of 15th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, began earlier this year, the Baghdad Zoo and park have started reopening more and more exhibits to the public. Carlisle, Pa., native Army Capt. Amy Cronin, the special projects officer for 15th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, walks with an equestrian team during the Baghdad Zoo’s new horse stables grand opening ceremony at the central Baghdad facility, Dec. 1, 2007. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kap Kim, USA  (Click...

MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 30, 2007 – A long-awaited passenger terminal project here that had lagged behind schedule now is complete. Less than three months after Mustafa Yoldah left his company’s office in Turkey and came to Mosul with a new foreman and extra workers, the project was finished. For the first time in 15 years, the Mosul, Iraq, airport is ready for commercial flights, beginning with the mid-December Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Photo by Alda Ottley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “He made it happen,” said Alda Ottley, project engineer for this facility. The terminal is...

Plan: Use wounded troops if diplomats refuse service Rep. Hunter urges Bush to fire rebellious officials who complain Baghdad assignment 'death sentence' U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. Responding to reports that State Department officials are refusing to serve in Iraq because it's too dangerous, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has proposed a novel plan to President Bush – to bypass the agency and recruit from among U.S. military troops discharged after suffering injury. Hunter, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, told talk-radio host Glenn Beck today he met with Bush just 30 minutes prior to the interview and gave him...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 — Iraq has agreed to award $1.1 billion in contracts to Iranian and Chinese companies to build a pair of enormous power plants, the Iraqi electricity minister said Tuesday. Word of the project prompted serious concerns among American military officials, who fear that Iranian commercial investments can mask military activities at a time of heightened tension with Iran.

Iraq's electricity production has finally surpassed the government's interim goal of 120,000 KW average hours of production for the first time. This level has never been achieved before and represents a significant increase over pre-war levels in spite of insurgent caused interuptions. See page 40 of the Brookings Iraq index

BAGHDAD, Sept. 14, 2007 – Families in a neighborhood that sits between Sunni and Shiia areas of west Baghdad are looking forward to the re-opening of their secondary school. An Iraqi construction crew renovates a school in west Baghdad, a project that will double its size. The project is about 30 percent complete. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Thifaf Al Neel School -- near the Baghdad International Airport in the Al Bayaa Beladiya neighborhood -- is being doubled in size, said Maj. Clark Johnson of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2007 – Rebuilding infrastructure, empowering local business leaders, and training Iraqi army forces are pieces of the full-spectrum approach being taken by coalition forces on the ground in Iraq, a U.S. military commander said this week. “Like most military units in our mission statement, it categorizes our approach as full spectrum, which means that we’re simultaneously developing capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, the local government, the basic services, building relationships with the local populace and tribal leaders,” said Army Col. Michael X. Garrett, commander of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Multinational Division Center....

After leaving a ceremony to reopen the Al Aflaph Elementary School in Salhiyah, Capt. Joseph Guzowski, left, the commander of Troop A, 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and Staff Sgt. Justin Miller, stop to play a game of foosball with some of the local children. Photo by Spc. Robert Yde, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — One of the biggest changes that Capt. Joseph Guzowski has seen since his last deployment here three years ago is the dramatic transformation of the relationships between Coalition forces and the local...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2007 – A task force designed to bolster Iraq’s industry has made “measurable progress,” placing scores of Iraqi workers in sustainable jobs since the program’s June 2006 inception, the deputy secretary of defense said today. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England leads off a press briefing on steps being taken to improve the economy of Iraq in the Pentagon , Sept. 4, 2007. Joining England for the briefing were Iraq's Minister of Industry and Minerals Fawzi Hariri, left, and Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation Paul Brinkley. Defense Dept. photo by R. D. Ward  (Click...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2007 – A group of public health experts gathered in the Pentagon Aug. 30 to focus on rebuilding the Iraqi health care system. Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, (seated right in white shirt) convened a meeting of public health experts at the Pentagon, Aug. 30, 2007, to discuss reconstruction of Iraq's health care system. Defense Dept. photo by Jim Garamone  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, convened the meeting in part to help the new health attaché to the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan, Aug. 27, 2007 – Afghans and multinational forces are working hand in hand on a variety of construction projects here. Polish Pvt. Piotr Oparski works on the final touches of a culvert in Forward Operating Base Sharana, Afghanistan, as a scoop loader hauls the rest of the dirt. Photo by 1st Lt. Kenya Virginia Saenz, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 864th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy); 1st Construction Company, 100th Republic of Korea Engineering Group; and Polish 1st Engineer Brigade are working together to construct metal building systems,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2007 – Recent strides in Iraq’s economic development, including the reopening of a flour mill last week, are occurring as Iraqi and coalition forces disrupt al Qaeda and other terrorist elements, a senior military spokesman in Iraq said today. “Local production of flour in a previously dormant mill is a small but meaningful step in Baqubah that demonstrates that as al Qaeda in Iraq is driven out, economic growth emerges,” Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, deputy spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said at a news conference. The flour mill in Baqubah, closed for nearly a year,...

BAGHDAD — Raw sewage is no longer inundating a neighborhood in east Baghdad. Residents in Oubadi, located near Sadr City, are benefiting from a recently completed $14.9 million Gulf Region South district project that connected their homes for the first time ever to a new functioning sewer collection system. “People there are very pleased with the improvement,” said Iraqi engineer Mustafa Haddad who works for the GRS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “For over two years we’ve been working on this project and the community has been very supportive throughout. They were using slit trenches and lakes of raw sewage,...

How can one gather and assess information about Iraq -- collected on a trip or from any other source? Information from a war zone is difficult to attain and interpretation is open to many views. Unfortunately, much of the blogosphere and other media outlets have emphasized the wrong question, challenging the integrity of anyone who dares to express politically incorrect views about Iraq. Last week, Jonathan Finer criticized on this page [" Green Zone Blinders," Aug. 18] a New York Times essay that Ken Pollack and I wrote, as well as the comments of several senators, for claiming too much...

U.S. Army Engineers Continue Work on Health Care Centers Increased availability to medical care will help reduce infant mortality. By A. Al BahraniGulf Region South, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers MAYSAN, Iraq, Aug. 24, 2007 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to make a significant and positive impact on the reconstruction of Iraq. The design-build projects of four Primary Healthcare Centers in Maysan Province are a prime example. "We are making history here. I enjoy working in Iraq and seeing the benefit of the reconstruction work." Maj. Stephen Herda Maysan resident engineer, Basrah Area Office. “The four...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2007 – Efforts to improve Iraq’s electrical power grid continue to make good progress, a senior U.S. military engineering officer reported from Baghdad today. For example, all four thermal turbine electricity generators in Baghdad’s Doura district are now up and running, Army Brig. Gen. Michael J. Walsh told Internet reporters and “bloggers” during a conference call from Iraq. “You’ll see smoke coming out of all four of them, so we’re pretty pumped about that,” Walsh said of the Doura power plant’s chimneys. Four more turbine generators in Mussaib are slated to come on line in the next...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 24, 2007 — Members of the Salah Ad Din Sheik’s support council held a press conference via satellite at the Combined Press Information Center, Aug. 23. "It is a long battle against the terrorists. . . We cannot define or decide how long this battle will take. But we think that we are going in the right direction. We believe in our capabilities and we also depend on God. We ask God to provide security for all the Iraqis and progress for Iraq." Hamood Shekti al Qaisi Governor of the Salad Ad Din province. Hamood Shekti al Qaisi,...

33 Schools Built- 48 apartment buildings, schools, commercial buildings and parking lots completed in Baghdad- Electricity situation improvesCapt. Ian Lauer finds things peaceful enough to drop his guard and photograph a group of children on the road he patrols. (Der Spiegel) Capt. Ian Lauer on patrol with a friendly Iraqi in a safer Ramadi: "Now peace has broken out. And that's f***ing great!" (Der Spiegel) The following is the translation by Iraqi-American Haider Ajina of an article from Iraq’s Buratha News of 8/23/07 Large Iraqi Government Plans to Rebuild 15 Provinces Iraqi Government implements a fifteen province construction &...

BAQOUBA, Iraq, Aug. 23, 2007 — The Baqouba public flour mill began processing wheat Aug. 20, after being closed for nearly a year, marking the local production of flour in the Diyala Province as a major step toward Iraqi self-sufficiency. "This is one more piece to the larger puzzle of providing normalcy here. It's probably the most important thing we've done." Lt. Col. Fred Johnson, deputy commanding officer of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. "This is one more piece to the larger puzzle of providing normalcy here," said Lt. Col. Fred Johnson, deputy commanding officer of...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 14, 2007 – Fagah Al Dhahab needs money -- about $4 million, to hear him tell it. Dhahab is the director general of the Hillah textiles company. His cluster of factories in the capital of Iraq’s Babil province represents one piece of a network of state-run industries that dotted Iraq under Saddam Hussein, providing jobs and consumer goods, but also impeding competitive growth as lynchpins of Iraq’s controlled economy. Dhahab’s operations are ongoing but suffering, victims of inadequate funding, supply shortages, understaffing and a paucity of electricity. In July, the factory’s output was 450,000 meters of fabric. Before...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 3, 2007 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Division, completed 112 construction projects between June 30 and July 27, 2007 – bringing the total number of completed projects to 3,998. Currently, there are 576 construction projects ongoing – all funded through the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, the Development Fund for Iraq, the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, the Economic Support Fund and the Iraq Security Forces Fund. Water projects that were completed this month include three network projects in Sadr City in Baghdad Province – each totaling $1.9 million. Each potable water project included laying...

JEDDAH: Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it will send a mission to Iraq to consider reopening its embassy there, a move that could help bolster the troubled Shia-led government in Baghdad. “A diplomatic mission from the foreign ministry” will visit Baghdad to explore the possibility of reopening the embassy, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters. He was speaking at a news conference with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates, on a tour aimed in part at seeking support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government and countering Shia Iran’s influence in...

A contractor's story from Iraq By CARL LAVO AND RICK STAGER Bucks County Courier Times AL ASAD AIRFIELD, Western Iraq — The reason I took this job in Iraq was denial: Look, I’m still working. I haven’t been relegated to making bird houses in the basement yet. I’ve got a job, how could I be old? Also, I needed the money. So I found perhaps the single employer who would hire a retiree my age (66) at a decent salary: KBR Halliburton. The bombs and land mines I encountered in Iraq were the truths I have had to face, but...

In the American media, Iraq's steady progress toward security is frequently overshadowed by news of the latest act of mass terrorism. Yet for those of us who actually live here, progress is visible to all but the most irreconcilable skeptics. Just this week, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, the United Nations' special representative for Iraq, announced at a news conference in Baghdad that Iraq had achieved, or at least started to achieve, 75 percent of the benchmarks it set for itself in the U.N.-led International Compact with Iraq. The military force increase by the United States called "the surge" is only one...